May

In the Sufi tradition, earthly love transforms itself into divine love (‘ishq majazi becomes ishq haqiqi’). This is symbolized by the plug, a metaphor for ‘connection’ that the artist has used for a decade, in the context of her Buddhas as well.

Sohni striding across the turbulent waters transcends the lovelorn heroine to become a metaphor for the human spirit that takes a plunge, instead of sleeping safely by the shore, as others normally do. The treatment of water with its fine lines, the cloudy horizon line, the slant of rain are familiar from the Nayika paintings in Punjab hill miniatures, which also have the brave lovelorn heroine venturing into the storm.